Hydrant repair tool

ABSTRACT

A tool for the removal and replacement of the stem and valve seat of a hydrant, consisting of a drive member which is designed to latch into the upper surface of an otherwise disconnected hydrant lower valve stem. The tool may be fastened to the conventional upper hydrant valve stem, and serve to rotate the disconnected lower valve stem free of its mating threads. The lower valve stem, after being freed of threaded engagement is brought to the top of the hydrant by the application of water pressure from the hydrant supply pipe.

. United States Patent [191 Hand 7 [451 May 21, 19.74

[ HYDRANT REPAIR TOOL [75] Inventor: Robert G. Hand, Sauk Village, ill.

[73] Assignee: The Raymond Lee'Organi zation,

Inc., New York, NY.

[22] Filed: July 18, 1972 [2l] Appl. No.: 272,792

[52] US. Cl. 81/90 E, 8l/1 l9 [5l] Int. Cl... B25b 13/00, B25b 13/02, B25b 13/56 [58] Field of Search 81/90 R, 90 E, 119

[56] References Cited I UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,985,242 5/1961 Papa 81/90 R X 2,400,083 5/1946 Fillinger 8l/90 R X ABSTRACT A tool for the removal and replacement of the stem and valve seat of a hydrant, consisting of a drive 'memher which is designed to latch into the upper surface of an otherwise disconnected hydrant lower valve stem. The tool may be fastened to the conventional upper hydrant valve stem, and serve to rotate the disconnected lower valve stem free of its mating threads. The lower valve stem, after being freed of threaded engagement is brought to the top of the hydrant by the application of water pressure from the hydrant supply pipe.

1 Claim, 4 Drawing Figures za l PATENTEDIIAYZI m4 FIG.I

IIYDRANT REPAIR TOOL SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a tool and a method for the removal and replacement of a water hydrant valve seat,

and particularly for the removal of such valve seats when they have become disconnected from the upper valve stems.

An advantage of this invention is that the tool is simple to use, and reduces the conventional time and cost of such valve replacement.

The tool is in the form of a rod with three prongs at one end projecting from the side of the rod, such that the ends of the prongs and the end of the rod terminate at a common plane, perpendicular to the axis of the rod. To remove a hydrant valve seat, the rod end is fitted into the hollow coupling socket mounted on the upper surface of the valve seat, and rotated so as to bring the projecting prongs into bearing engagement with the existing projections of bolt heads above the valve seat surface. Further rotation of the rod now causes the valve seat to rotate and become free of the threaded engagement with the structure. The tool is then removed, and the application of hydrant supply water pressure acts to float the valve seat to the top of the hydrant, where it can be manually reached and removed. I

In conventional practice, prior to the use of this tool, a hydrant in which the valve stem had become disconnected from the valve seat was repaired by the costly process of digging up the hydrant and entering it from the bottom. Such a job, under typical circumstances, requires the services of three men over a 7 hour period to dig and replace the soil. Furthermore, in the conventional practice, the hydrant which had to be repaired by being dug out, requires maintenance back-filling of the settling ground every 2 weeks until the ground has become sufficiently level to resod or to replant with grass seed.

With this tool, one man in l hour completely repairs the hydrant on his first attempt, and with experience learns to replace the valve stems in approximately 1/2 'hour. The savings to a typical village or manicipality can approximate from $300-to $600 per repaired bydrant at current labor rates, since the digging process is completely eliminated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING with the tool applied to a valve seat, fastened to said hydrant;

FIG. 2 is an elevation of the tool resting on a valve seat;

FIG. 3 is an elevation in cross-section of the loosened valve seat being floated" up the hydrant by the supply 3 water pressure; and

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the tool resting on a valve seat.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Turning now descriptively to the drawing, in which similar reference characters denote similar elements throughout the several views, FIG. 1 illustrates a hydrant 16 with supply connection 18, and outlet connection 19. The hydrant is operated by rotation of valve seat 12 with the male thread 20 of lower valve stem 23 engaged in the female thread 22 of the hydrant frame 21, fixed to the structure of the hydrant l6. Consequently, in normal operation, rotation of valve seat 12 serves to open or close the valve seat so as to govern the flow of water from the supply connection 18 to the outlet connection 19.

As shown in FIGS. 2-3, the tool 10 is coupled to extension rods 17 by female couplers 11, with the round rod end 24 of the tool inserted into the loose mating hole of the socket 15 mounted on the upper surface of the valve seat 12. Rotation of the tool 10 causes the three extension prongs 14 to bear on protrusions 13 above the upper surface of valve'seat 12. The prongs 14 are fixed to the sides of the tool shaft 25 and project to the plane perpendicular to the rod end 24, where the prongs l4 bend so as to run parallel to said plane towards the outer periphery of the valve seat 12.

As shown in FIG. 3, the tool 10 is removed after the valve stem thread 20 has been disengaged from female thread 22, and the supply water allowed to flow in through supply connection 18, with the incoming water pressure acting to fioat" the valve seat 12 up to the top 27 of the hydrant 16, from where it can be manually removed. A new valve stem is coupled to socket 15 mounted on the upper surface of the valve'seat 12, and the valve seat 12 may be then replaced in the customary fashion.

Since obvious changes may be made in the specificconnected from the valve stem which customarily serves to rotate said valve seat into the open or the closed position, said tool comprising a rod to which three prongs are fixed, with each prong being fixed to said rod at a distance from a common rod end, each said prong being angularly oriented to the axis of said rod so as to diverge from the rod end, the free end of each said prong being bent into a plane perpendicular to the end of the rod end at the intersection with said plane, said bent section of each prong being a short lip which is oriented away from the center of said rod axis, with the outer periphery of the bent end sections of all three prongs fitting within a circle of a diameter less than the outer diameter .of the said circular valve seat, with each prong being angularly oriented in regard to the tool rod axis, so that each of the three bent end sections of the prongs will engage the side of a protrusion fastened to the outer surface of the valve seat, with v the rod end of a size and shape to slidably fit into the bore of a hollow collar mounted on the outer surface of the valve seat, such that a valve seat threadably engaged in a closed position in a hydrant and disconnected from the valve stem may be rotated by the tool so as to become mechanically free of engagement with the hydrant and to be consequently ejected out of the hydrant by the flowof water through the hydrant when the valve seat has been thus rotated into the open and disengaged position. 

1. A tool for the removal of the circular valve seat of a hydrant from the hydrant, where said valve seat is disconnected from the valve stem which customarily serves to rotate said valve seat into the open or the closed position, said tool comprising a rod to which three prongs are fixed, with each prong being fixed to said rod at a distance from a common rod end, each said prong being angularly oriented to the axis of said rod so as to diverge from the rod end, the free end of each said prong being bent into a plane perpendicular to the end of the rod end at the intersection with said plane, said bent section of each prong being a short lip which is oriented away from the center of said rod axis, with the outer periphery of the bent end sections of all three prongs fitting within a circle of a diameter less than the outer diameter of the said circular valve seat, with each prong being angularly oriented in regard to the tool rod axis, so that each of the three bent end sections of the prongs will engage the side of a protrusion fastened to the outer surface of the valve seat, with the rod end of a size and shape to slidably fit into the bore of a hollow collar mounted on the outer surface of the valve seat, such that a valve seat threadably engaged in a closed position in a hydrant and disconnected from the valve stem may be rotated by the tool so as to become mechanically free of engagement with the hydrant and to be consequently ejected out of the hydrant by the flow of water through the hydrant when the valve seat has been thus rotated into the open and disengaged position. 